Talk:Open education
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Open Education is absolutely a different term than Open Educational Resources and should be kept distinct. Open Education is a term that has been around for decades and refers to the opportunity for learning to be available for those who chose to reengage with systems/universities that allow open entry/exit and remove barriers to formal participation. The potential of Open Educational Resources is slightly more than half a decade old and still evolving to reach its potential. To collapse the two terms to one obscures the distinction between the two and the as yet unrealized and untested unique potential of Open Educational Resources (OER). OER is an outgrowth of the Web, requires open licences and harnesses the power of community and the opportunity to localize and translate educational resources. These are all dimensions distinct from Open Education. There are many more - but let me stop there and contend that there is far more to be lost than gained from merging the two. Ccathy (talk) 06:44, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
I think the OER page already describes the OE concept pretty well but this contents would probably be better off here. Before merging or redirecting myself, I would like to read other opinions. -- Mietchen (talk) 15:28, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
Eager to see two word merges. Open Space to cover technology as well as meeting protocols, Open Education to cover resources, offerings, how to. etc. Rationale: After Gnomedex "Open Everything" keytone, I found that it resonates better, the open source meme carries over faster, if we can keep the title two works.RobertDavidSteeleVivas (talk) 14:03, 9 February 2008 (UTC)
Do not merge these two topics. 'Open Education' refers to a form of eduation where there are no barriers to entry, and specifically, no academic barriers. Hence the name of the 'Open Universityt' in Great Britain, which is not free. And Athabasca University, "Canada's Open University", which is also not free. 'Open Educational Resources' describe a type of educational resource that is created specifically for free distribution. Examples include MIT's OpenCourseWare, which is free. Stephen Downes 10:03, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
I agree with Mr. Downes. The fact that 'Open Education' shares some (not all) of the core values of OER, and the fact that their names are so strikingly similar, does not warrant a merger. Perhaps a name change for one or the other? Is that even possible? Probably not even necessary, but it IS clear that this page requires more content in order to clarify the difference. Otherwise we won't even know what we are discussing. Trubacca (talk) 06:26, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
